


The Ugly, The Bad and The Good

by FreashFruitAndChocolate



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Galra Keith (Voltron), Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Mystery, Near Death Experiences, Sad Lance (Voltron), Slow Build, Slow Burn, Spooky, scared lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2018-10-09 22:27:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10423167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreashFruitAndChocolate/pseuds/FreashFruitAndChocolate
Summary: Something's wrong with Lance but the others don't see it.Something's wrong with Lance but the others can't hear it.Something's wrong with Lance but the others can't feel it.Something's wrong with Lance but the others... can't fix it.





	1. The Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> First fic everyone :D
> 
> Please point out any spelling, punctuation, phrasing and wording mistakes. 
> 
> My life will effect when I update. I’m currently in college. Right now midterms are coming up for me so I may be busy right now. I don’t like keeping people waiting forever so I’ll try my best !

It was just supposed to be a normal mission. Missions. What the hell? Missions that word, when did he start to hate that word so much?

Anyway, it started off normal. See a planet under the Galra occupation, go in, liberate a planet and its citizens from Galra occupation, save the day, bask in the glory, and leave with triumph in your belly. This… This was not one of those days.

The mission was a failure. They were doing fine at first to say the least. The spices there were skeptical. Of course they were. The inhabitants were about 23 inches tall and a bunch of giant 2 legged aliens suddenly showed up telling them a life of slavery under the Galra Empire is wrong. Yeah waltzing in telling them a system they’d been use to for 10,000 years is not the only way to live. Lance figured they wouldn’t be all “gung ho” to join there rebel alliance, many weren’t but damn he didn’t expect it to go the way it did. They turned on them. Told them they would join, pretended they believed in their cause then betrayed them. Told Galra soldiers there location and who they were. Then a big fight broke out. Not even a Voltron vs big Galra war ship fight. Not a Lions fight. Not a flouting around in space fight. An on the ground dodging fire fight.

Lance would be lying if he said he wasn’t having fun at first. The adrenaline and excitement of the battle like all others. Running around on the edge of death, getting a head shot on a Galra drone. What was not fun about it? It was fun…until it wasn’t. 

He was crouched down behind a little hill of dirt that luckily hid his whole body from the drone’s fire. Rows of them lined up shooting. He remembers Pidge was near him. Saw her tiny form jump behind her own little hill for cover. He was smiling too. He remembers it clearly like a lucid dream. He just… glanced past his shoulder, huge grin on his face, just to see a stray laser beam hit one of the little aliens right in the head. He fell down unmoving. “When did he get there?” Was the first thought in his mind. He didn’t even think about how messed up that was. That that was his first thought. Nor did he think about the second which was “Why the hell was he standing there?” 

His grin slid from his face. The sound of the lasers became quieter, like he was covering his ears. He looked down at his arms to make sure he wasn’t. No, his hands were still clenched tightly around his gun…He thinks Pidge saw it too. He remembers glancing at her. He thinks she was staring at it like he was until a blast hit the dirt just above her head. She snapped out of it, whipped her head around and ran to find higher cover he thinks.

Lance just stared.

These things were tiny. The only reason it got shot was because it was standing on a little dirt hill. It wasn’t moving and Lance stared.

Why was it there? Why the hell would it be near a battle like this? What was it thinking?

The voice of Allura saying they were retreating shot through his ears from his helmet. He remembers his body jumping to life. Pidge running towards him as he got up.

“Stay down!” she shouted. Pulling his arm and forcing him to crouch and run with her, dirt blasting off in his face. Helmet.

After a lot of crouching and a lot of fire being shot there way they made it back on the ship.

“Why are we retreating!?” Keith shouted running in with Hunk.

"There are too many of them.” Allura exclaimed fingers rapidly typing on the key pad of the ship. “We have no choice.” She breathed out.

“That’s bullshit! We can take them! All we need is the lions and… Keith was quickly interrupted.

“NO!” Allura shouted. Everyone was now looking at her. She was sweating on her forehead and trying to control her heavy breathing. Apparently Alteans could sweat like humans. It was an ambush so she must have been running like they were.

“We are leaving.” She exhaled calmly.

So here he sat helmet off looking at the ground. They were now far away from the small planet. Siting with his head down and a pounding headache. Must be from all the loud noise he thinks.

“Why did we retreat Allura?” Shiro said gently coming up from behind her. Everyone had calmed down now, the adrenaline from the fight draining out of their systems. Pidge had taken off her helmet and rubbed her eyes, sliding her glasses back on her face and sat slumped over in a position that screamed exhaustion. Hunk started stretching out his sore limbs making loud popping noises. They didn’t seem to care why they left, just happy they did. Keith on the other hand was pacing like a feral animal, angry and frustrated.

Allura glanced behind her looking at Shiro, rolling her shoulders back and relaxing them for the first time since they left. “They…” she paused looking down. “They begged us to leave.” Something in her voice sounded almost condescending like anger. 

“Who?”

“The Zidlings. The inhabitance. They begged us to leave.” She said in a quiet tone pausing. “As we were running from the drones we accidently entered one of their villages. They were...small so we didn’t notice. A lot of them were killed.” She choked the words out like they were clogging her breathing. Her hands were clenched tightly into fists.

Oh. Ooooh. That’s why that little guy was there.

 

Those little hills Lance and Pidge used for cover.

 

Were their houses.

 

He was trying to escape.

Oh.

“All of them rushed at my feet crying and begging us to leave. Saying that we were just making the situation worse. That the Galra drones would stop firing if we left.” She said. “It was a quick decision I had to make. They wouldn’t cooperate with us.” she finished like she was reasoning with herself and not explaining to her team.

Everyone was silent. Including Shiro who had asked the question. 

 

Then Keith started shouting. “Well what the hell did they expect!?” Keith spit out. “If they hadn’t betrayed us and ratted us out to the Galra none of that would have happened! They should have just listened to us! We told them about all the awful things Zarkon has done and they still betrayed us!” he grumbled angrily. Shiro walked over to him placing a hand on his shoulder. “Keith, I know your upset we all are, but you have to calm down.” Shiro said calmly. It’s like he was talking to an animal, every word was careful and drawn out to ethicize meaning.

“Fine.” Keith said snarled heat still in his voice. “Guess they wouldn’t have made the greatest warriors against the Galras anyway.” He said. Then proceeded to stomp off. 

“Yes.” Allura added. “Plus we were overwhelmed anyway. Luckily none of us were hurt.” She said and from that statement alone the conversation was over.

“I’m going to go lay down. My head’s killing me.” Pidge said as she got up clutching her forehead. “Yeah I think I’m going to hit the hay too” Hunk said looking at everyone then walking away as well.

“Yes, it has been a long day. Sleep well paladins.” Not sounding like she was going to sleep herself. Coran placing a calm hand on her back.

He thinks Shiro left to. No one seemed to notice Lance still sitting on the floor. So he just got up.

His body hurt. It ached and felt heavy. Bones cracking as he walked. The headache was still there pounding away and his eyes felt heavy. He wonders if he always felt like this after a mission but it was hidden under triumph and bravado.

He opened the door to his room and collapsed on his bed. He turned on his back and stared up at the sealing with pained eyes.

Was it their fault?

No.

They were the heroes.

They were saving the galaxy from Zarkon.

It was Zarkons fault. The slavery of that race, of so many other races was his fault.

The drones wouldn’t even be there if there was no Zarkon. The villagers wouldn’t have been scared if it wasn’t for him. 

But could they have handled the situation differently.

They knew the Zidlings were scared and unwilling yet they pushed anyway. Truthfully they should have seen the ambush coming.

He wonders how the Zidlings saw the situation.

They were probably scared and confused. They just wanted the fighting to stop so they begged Allura to leave.

They’d been in a situation like this before. An inhabitance being wary of joining them.

So why was this so different?

Was it because they were so small?

His head began to hurt more.

That little guy and so many other little guys were just trying to escape.

How did he not notice he ran into one of their little dirt villages. He saw them when they arrived on the planet.

He ran over there first, so Pidge just followed him.

It wasn’t his fault.

It wasn’t the Zidlings fault.

His eyes became heavy.

It wasn’t his fault.

He closes his eyes.

It wasn’t…


	2. The Pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OMG guys i'm so sorry this took so long X( I've been really busy and still am right now so the next update may take a long time too but to compensate i'm making the chapters longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING : Lance has a near death experience in this chapter and it does get pretty descriptive.

He woke up and his body was still sore. Awesome. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes he sits up with a groan, gross morning breath in his mouth. He touches his face and realizes he didn’t apply his face cream before he passed out last night so now he’s going to have wrinkles, double awesome.

As he got up everything felt like it was in slow motion, like his brain was trying to keep up. Moving the covers, standing up, yawning, and stretching. His stomach made a loud growl so he decided breakfast was a good idea.

Hunk was already in the dining hall. His back to Lance as he was cooking. Hunk wasn’t the earliest raiser but he was always in the kitchen first thing in the morning. Shiro and Keith were always awake before all of them, training. Lance is usually up last but last night he was pretty restless which also explains why he was so sore. 

“Morning.” Lance greeted, sitting down in a stool.

“Morning.” Hunk replied without turning to Lance but Lance could hear his smile. 

“What’s for breakfast big man?” He asked fondly.

“Only the best! Green goo surprise!” Hunk said with humor in his voice giving a big smile. He then handed the plate of said goo to Lance.

“Ah your specialty!” Lance exclaimed with fake surprise.

He was honestly getting pretty sick of this stuff. At first it was funny. Slim was their only source for food ha ha. As a kid he would find it hilarious. Now it wasn’t funny anymore. The texture was getting to him. The slimy squishiness of it. It wasn’t like marshmallow. Marshmallows have some thickness to it's texture, the green slime was loose and plopped down with a jello like wiggle. It also tasted like nothing which was the worst part. It could at least taste bad to match the gross texture. Like when you’re little and think it’s a good idea to eat play-doh. According to Coran this stuff had all the nutritional properties needed to sustain a human which apparently meant flavorless.

Lance began eating, pretending his meal was pancakes or something more appetizing when Pidge walked in. She looked just as bad as Lance. Her hair was sticking up in different ends, her glasses resting on her forehead and had dark circles under her eyes. She didn’t say anything just sat down in a stool next to Lance slamming her head down on the table. It looked painful but she didn’t move.

“Looks like someone stayed up late.” Hunk noted.

“Ugh.” Was all Pidge said back.

“What’s the matter Pidgeareno? Up to a little late night geeking?” Lance teased. Taking another bite of gross alien goo.

It was then that Pidge turned her head to glare at Lance.

“That’s a yes.” Hunk said with a warm smile, scrubbing his already finish plate.

“I’m unappreciated in my time.” Pidge mumbled.

“Aw we appreciated you Pidge!” Lance said, giving the girl a hard pat on the back. Pidge gave a surprised “oof” and started swinging at Lance violently, Lance blokes her attacks and begans laughing.

Lance liked moments like this. It reminded him of the old days. Him, Hunk and Pidge, the three amigos. It was them first before the others. He liked Allura and Coran. Especially Allura, but they were…aliens. There was this disconnection on a lot of things. Shiro and Keith were from earth but…they were…different. They have their own kind of emotional deep connection the others aren’t a part of.

Lance smiled. He was most comfortable like this. With his friends the ones who were like him.

Lance’s thoughts were cut when a sudden alarm went off. It shook his core do to the abruptness and by the looks on Hunk and Pidge they were just as spooked.

All of sudden Allura came rushing it.

“It’s a Galra ship! We’re under attack!” She shouted.

Keith and Shiro ran in as well, already dressed and sweaty from an early work out.

Suddenly a huge boom ruptured throughout the castle. The shield around the castle was up though and they could see that the explosion came from behind. 

“Well that’s a wakeup call!” Coran exclaimed.

“Shit!” Yelped Pidge as she nearly fell over.

“They must have followed us from the Zid planet!” Coran offered going over to Allura.

“How many are there?” Keith asked.

“It looks like just one ship.” Allura continued type, checking all the castle’s defense systems.

“Hurry all of you! Get to the lions!” Allura ordered.

“Alright everyone! Get ready! Suites on!” Shiro yelled in his leader voice.

Lance along with everyone ran to get dressed and rushed to their lions.

Time to be a hero.

 

 

Lance always feels free piloting Blue, flying through space getting the biggest adrenaline high anyone can dream of. Blue makes him feel at peace and excited at the same time even in battle, well especially in battle.

It was one ship so Shiro called for a formation where everyone circled around it, taking it down on all sides. Keith and Lance on the left and right, Hunk and Pidge in the back, Shiro was maneuvering to the front of the ship which was the most difficult. The ship did it’s best to keep up with all of them, firing at all sides, but it has its hands full with Shiro.

“Ha! I could do this all day! You guys ready to take this thing down cause I know I am!” Lance says excitedly.

“Alright everyone on my mark we all fire full force at once! Everyone in positions!?”

They all confirmed, they were ready.

“Alright Ready!”

“Set !”

“Fir-!”

Something happens.

Lance’s intercoms cut off.

And Lance thinks his eyes cut off too because suddenly he can’t see.

Then he notices a sharp wave of nausea hits him along with a sudden force that slams into his body. It feels horrific, like he’s fully ready to throw up his own organs if it means it’ll stop. It’s so disorienting his senses shut off. His brain feels heavy and he can’t feel his body. He tries moving his fingers but he can’t...he’s paralyzed. There’s this prolonging beep in his ear which makes him deaf. He can’t see or hear and can’t even think. He tries counting to find some ground but he can’t get past 1-

Panic begins to surge through him. He starts to breathe heavily cause it’s all he can do but he can’t get enough air. His heart begins beating rapidly out of his control and his mind swirling. He begins seeing images, memories. His little brother’s fifth birthday, his mother cooking tamales in her apron at a family reunion, his first day at the academy. He knows what this is, his memories are flashing before his eyes.

His brain is shutting down.

He’s…going to die.

He thinks he feels tears running down his face and whimpers.

Not like this…not suffering. He hasn’t even gotten to say goodbye. Hasn’t gotten to see his family again.

Now he knows he’s crying but he doesn’t comprehend it anymore because it’s too much. His mouth is hanging open trying to breath and feels drool leaking out. He just wants the pain to end. It feels like his body is stuck and won’t let him go. His heart is beating so fast it should just stop eventually.

He’s ready, he’s accepted it.

Please just make it stop.

Then suddenly it does.

His body slumps limply and he sharply inhales through his mouth, he still can’t see though.

“Wh…Hell…Lan !?” 

His hearing is coming back.

“Lanc…!?”

A voice is talking to him but he can barely hear.

His body aches as he tries to breathe clearly but he jus can’t.

He’s so tired.

He closes his eyes and everything fades.

 

 

When he wakes up he’s in his room looking up at white tile in low lighting. There’s a blanket covering his body and he’s still in his armor. He blinks slowly, adjusting his eyes.

He moves his head and it hurts. His whole body hurts. It feels heavy like his veins are full of led. 

He groans as he lifts up his arm and proceeds to sit up fully.

He’s not injured, at least not visibly. He moves slowly as he gets up to stand.

As he stands up he’s vision blurs and he’s dizzy.

He sits back down to compose himself holding his head breathing calmly.

Ok you can do this.

He stands up and he can see.

What the hell happened?

Why was he so dizzy? Why was he in bed? Weren’t they fighting?

He needed to ask the others what happened.

He gets up and walks out his door.

 

 

He finds everyone in the kitchen. There all standing around talking armor off unlike Lance. How long was he sleep? 

“Hey guys what’s going on?”

Everyone turns to look at him at the sound of his voice.

Keith is glaring at him, big surprise there, but what’s different is he’s not the only one.

Allura’s also glaring and Shiro has a look of disappointment. What he’d do to get those looks?

“What’s going on? WHAT’S GOING ON!? I’ll tell you what’s going on Lance! While we were all risking our lives trying to take out a Galra ship you decided to take a nap and ruined our battle plan!” Keith finished fuming in rage, his hand clenching the table as if to hold him back from physically attacking Lance.

“What!? No I didn’t!”

“Yes. You did.” Shiro signs in his disappointed dad voice.

“Yeah last minute too. We were all ready and you just konked out.” Pidge adds. She’s not glaring like the others but she’s clearly annoyed by the whole situation.

What!? He passed out during the battle?

“Listen Lance, as a paladin of Voltron you need to be ready for whatever comes our way that means being rested enough…”

Lance cuts out Shiro typical leader speech to think.

He fell asleep???

During the fight?

How?

He wasn’t even tired.

He was ready. Just like everyone else.

Plus how could he sleep when he was in so much pain?

Pain.

Pain?

Suddenly memories began rushing back into his mind.

That awful force that paralyzed him, that almost killed him, he almost died.

He almost died.

He felt sick just thinking about it. He couldn’t breathe.

He was ready to die.

“Luckily we were able to pull through but you should think about not staying up late we all had time to sleep last night” Shiro finished his speech.

“Well to be fair, I stayed up pretty late too last night.” Pidge chimed in.

“Yeah but you didn’t almost get us all killed.” Keith retorted.

“Wait no I didn’t pass out cause I was tired…well technically I did… but not because I stayed up late something happened!” 

“Something… happened?” Allura questioned.

“Yeah like I was fine and then all of a sudden I couldn’t move... like something…was holding me down, like some kind of force and then I couldn’t see or hear anything and then my body was shutting down and then my life started flashing before my eyes and I WAS DYING!” Lance finished loudly and shaken. Even remembering it made panic sink in again after truly realizing what had just happened to him.

The others were just staring at him.

“Really. That’s the best you got as an excuse. An invisible force possessed you?” Keith said glaring and crossing his arms.

“No it didn’t possess me! It almost killed me! Like the force itself was so powerful it was crushing me! I couldn’t breathe or think or anything!”

….

“So an invisible force… paralyzed you… and made you pass out?” Pidge said questionably.

“No I passed out after!”

“So you did pass out.” Hunk says.

“Yes but only because of the invisible force!” Lance yells.

The others look at him like he’s crazy except for Keith who was just glaring.

“Look, didn’t any of you notice my com suddenly cut off or that you couldn’t video message me!?”

“Well… your com did cut off for like 20 seconds but we got you back on right after we took down the Galra ship, so we think it was just a glitch and we video messaged you after and you were passed out man” Hunk explains with a small chuckle.

20 seconds…

That whole thing only lasted 20 seconds?

It felt like hours.

“Yeah after you didn’t fire we all tried talking to you through our coms but you didn’t answer. Your lion was just hovering not responding so Keith’s lion had to bring her in and then we got you out.” Pidge includes.

“I couldn’t answer because I was DYING!” 

Keith rolls his eyes.

“You mean you guys didn’t feel it!?” Lance didn’t understand, why was he the only one who felt it?

“Listen Lance maybe you were just more exhausted then you thought and your body just… couldn’t do it anymore and that’s why you felt paralyzed at first.” Shiro offers.

“Whatever it was this CAN NOT happen again.” Allura says, fully serious and glaring at Lance.

“Lance you risked the lives of your teammates today. Whatever’s going on, lack of sleep or something else, get it under control. That is an order. Do you understand?” Allura finishes giving Lance the death stare of a life time.

“Yes princess.” He gulps.

“Good. The rest of you did very well today, I suggest you all rest, as long as there are no more surprises it should be smooth sailing from now on.” And with that said Allura leaves the room.

“You guys seriously didn’t feel anything?” Lance asks one last time.

“Nope.”

“No Nothing.”

“Me neither.”

“No Lance you passed out, get over it.”

Lance glares at Keith. Fresh tears still resting in his eyes, never falling, anxiety boiling in his stomach, hot and frantic.

“Just…get some sleep Lance.” Shiro says putting one hand on his shoulder offering a kind smile.

He doesn’t believe him either.

“Yeah.” Lance says walking away even more frightened then before.

 

 

He didn’t go to bed like his team advised. He’s inside Blue slumped in his chair with a blanket around him.

“You believe me…don’t you Blue?”

Blue replies with a small rumble in his mind meaning yes.

Though he can’t tell if she truly believes something happened to him or if she’s just saying yes to make him happy.

Blue must know something happened to her systems but it’s possible she doesn’t know what or why it happened. He didn’t even feel Blue’s presents through the whole ordeal.

“Something did happen to me…I…….I almost died…”

The thought still builds tears in his eyes.

“I almost died and no one believes me…”

Tears roll down his face.

Blue lets out a calming purr to let him know she believes him.

He loves her so much.

He curls up into a ball and lets his mind be washed by Blue’s calming purrs. He feels himself drifting off.

 

He tries not to think about the pain.

 

He tries not to think about how he almost died.

 

He tries to think about his family and how much he misses them.

 

He tries to think about Blue’s calming purrs.

 

He tries to think about Blue’s presence in his mind.

 

He tries not to think about the second presence in his mind.

 

He tries not to hear it whispering to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can confirm that what happened to Lance was real and something bigger is going on.


	3. The First Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team enters a new training session and Lance has a new friend :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise Surprise ;) Hotdog I am so happy I was able to finish this before my surgery :D Well enjoy you guys I'll be out for the next couple days so I won't be able to write but I'll be back soon! Until then enjoy!

One of Lance’s favorite memories was his older sister Eveline’s 13th birthday. Back when he was 7 and had his own room. He remembers getting up early like everyone that day, making preparations. His Dad set up ribbons on the wall and paper flowers on the doors and set out the fancy plates that no one could touch, Lance even got to use the hammer for a few decorations. He remembers helping his mom in the kitchen. His hands sticky with dough and flour, the smell of fresh spices and herbs laid out on the counter. 

And his favorite part of that day was when everyone came over. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, People he didn’t even know but they had apparently held him when he was a baby. His house had never been so full, people were in the living room, the kitchen, the backyard, talking and laughing, his sister and her friends were in the dining room gossiping and complementing each other’s dresses, and his cousins were running around playing games up and down the stairs. He remembers running up to his mother and her picking him up, resting him on her hip and telling his aunts about how out going and talented he was and he flaunted in the attention.

Lance had never been a shy child.

But the best part was when his sister hand to blow out the candles on her cake. Everyone had gathered around the dining room table and Lance remembers look up at everyone, they were all singing happy birthday together gathered around with smiles. So many people were apart of his family. People he didn’t even know had come all the way to his house to celebrate with them and Lance in his whole life had never felt so loved.

 

Lance wakes up and he’s still inside Blue. He closes his eyes thinking back to his dream, memory.

A strange buzzing starts in his ear.

He ignores it and curls up in his blanket trying to go back to sleep, but the buzzing gets louder.

Then it becomes an audible voice.

_Home._

What?

Lance sits up.

“Blue?” He questions looking around.

But Blue doesn’t reply.

And Lance can’t feel Blue’s presence in his mind.

Then Lance realizes Blue’s cockpit is pitch black.

“Blue? D…did you turn off?”

 _Home._ A voice whispers, that’s not Blue.

A chill runs down Lance’s spine.

He begins to breathe heavily and notices he can see his own breath.

 _Home._ The voice says louder.

Lance’s heart begins to speed up. His eyes dart around but he can’t see anything.

He holds his blanket tight to his chest.

**Home.** The voice says aggressively.

Lance begins to feel a crushing feeling, like something is holding his arms to his sides and his own chest is caving in.

No not again…

The pressure gets harder.

No please…

His ears began to ring.

No…

He can’t breathe.

NO!

 

Lance wakes up thrashing.

He tosses his blanket off and slams his head against the seat taking huge gulps of air.

Tears are building up in his eyes.

Blue lets out a concerned chuff.

“Blue?”

Blue answers him with a confirming purr.

He tucks his head under his covers.

His breath comes out shaky and his chest hurts.

Why? Why is this happening?

“Blue did you hear anything just now? L…like something in my head?”

Blue lets out a grumble that sounds like confusion.

Or maybe she’s saying no, he can’t really tell.

So Blue can’t feel it?

Is it just him? Is he going crazy or what?

Lance opens Blue’s hatch slowly and gets out.

Blue lets out a worried grumble.

 

Lance moves through the hallways slowly, shuffling his slippers on the ground. His blanket tightly wrapped around him when he spots Pidge. 

She’s walking towards him unknowingly, her eyes glued to a tablet in her hands.

“Morning Pidge…” Lance mumbles, trying to sound more awake.

Pidge looks up surprised. 

Her eyes scan over Lance, a confused expression takes over her face.

Then she frowns. 

“Lance where have you been?” She pauses looking at him up and down. “You look awful. Didn’t Shiro tell you to get some sleep?”

“I did sleep.”

“Not well enough it looks like.” She says with a smirk.

Lance wants to roll his eyes but he can’t because they hurt.

“Oh hey! You wanna see this thing I’ve been working on!” She asks excitedly.

“Um actually I was just going to head over to my room.” Despite the sleep he got Lance still feels tired. Like he run a mile all night instead of actually sleeping.

She pouts and it reminds him of his little sister.

“Fine. But Shiro said we have training in ten minutes.” She grumbles as she walks past him.

Ugh training. He forgot. Well now he has ten minutes to catch up on some sleep. Great.

 

They all met in the training room on time, suits on and weapons in hand. Lance had slept through breakfast, not really having much of an appetite anyway if he was being honest. Lance felt…weird today. He felt heavy in his own skin. His mind felt like he was dreaming even though this time he knew he was awake. It felt like that time when he was little, playing kick ball at the playground during recess on a hot day. He forgot to drink water like his teacher told him and felt loopy. He had to be taken to the nurse.

He’s not sure if he wants to tell the others. He didn’t think he was sick. He has an idea of what it is but he doesn’t want to think about it.

Anyway he’s good enough to fight, that’s all that matters.

Shiro moves to the center of the room along with Allura and Coran.

“Alright guys today’s training will focus on our reaction time.” Shiro says.

“Our reaction time?” Pidge questioned

“Yes, if you all remember correctly one of the reasons or mission on the Zid planet failed so miserably was because we were caught off guard.” Allura chimed in. “However, the way we reacted was sloppy and soon enough we were overwhelmed. You all need to get better at dealing with unexpected situations. An attack can come at any moment, you need to be virulent and on your guard. As defenders of the universe not only must you be good at piloting, but at ground level attacks as well. This training session will be based on the element of surprise.” 

“Yes! We have put together a training type that should help you all function individually. This way we can see who needs more training in this regard while also bettering you all as a team!” Coran said excitedly.

“Are you all ready?” Allura asked.

“Girl I’m always ready.” Lance answered winking. It was a lie. Right now Lance didn’t feel ready for anything. He was still feeling a bit groggy and the heavy feeling was still there.

Allura glanced at him then looked back at the others, the rest of them nodding.

“Good! Who would like to go first?” Coran asked.

“I think I should, to lead an example.” Shiro offered.

“Very well. As for the rest of you exit the room please and join us to observe.”

Everyone left except for Shiro and went to the observation screens.

“Alright lets began.” Coran said pressing a large button.

And suddenly the training room went dark.

What?

“Ok Shiro, a series of ten level five training bots will descend upon you, three at a time. Meaning if you defeat the first three the next will descend. You must defeat all of them to end the sequence, you know what to do if it becomes too much.” Allura said over the intercom.

The others look at the screens showing the inside of the training room. All screens on night vision mode so they could all see Shiro clearly.

“Yes I understand. Begin training sequence.”

Three training robots descend. 

“Now all of you pay attention. During Shiro’s battle watch how he listens to his surroundings, not knowing when the enemy will strike.” Allura says to all of them. She says it like she knows Shiro won’t lose. Lance knows it to, and so does everyone else but still Lance feels a little bit jealous.

Shiro looks around, his eyes darting despite the fact he can’t see. Then everything starts. One goes for a side hook to Shiro’s jaw but he dodges it. Lance can’t wrap his head around just how he knew the attack was coming. Shiro turns quickly and elbows the bot in the head. Another one tries to get him from behind but Shiro kicks it.

The warm purple glow of Shiro’s Galra arm came to life as one bot headed straight for him.

Seeing Shiro in action really is something else. Back at the academy he had heard so many rumors about what a great fighter he was and each and every one of them were true. Even in complete darkness he had a presence and force that showed he was fully in control.

The fight prolonged as such. Every bot that came near him was quickly taken down with strategic like moves. Before they knew it the fight was over.

“Very good old boy! And under 30 ticks no less!” Coran exclaimed over the intercom.

Shiro was sweating and breathing heavily but still looked like he wasn’t fully worn out.

“Thanks.” Shiro said small smile on his face.

“Yeah that was incredible.” Hunk said excitedly next to Lance.

“Yeah you finished the whole session!” Pidge says.

“Only the best from our fearless leader.” Lance added.

“Yes very good.” Allura smiled. “Well who would like to go next?” Allura turns to look at them.

“I’ll go.” Keith says stepping forward from the wall he was leaning on.

Keith always had a thing about lurking in the background.

“No, I wanna go.” Pidge says excitedly with her hand raised.

Keith glances at Pidge then shrugs.

“Alrighty then your training session will began shortly.” Coran says with a smile.

“Good luck Pidge.” Shiro says ruffling her hair on her way out.

Pidge grabs her bayard and all but runs there, now standing in the middle of the training room.

“Alright Pidge are you ready?” Allura asks on the intercom.

“Yeah! Go for it” Pidge shouts back.

Coran presses the button.

“You got this Pidge!” Lance shouts over the intercom, Hunk stands next to him with two thumbs up.

Pidge looks up and smiles before the lights go off.

Pidge’s fight is different than Shiro’s. There’s a lot more dodging then attacking on her end. Whenever a bot lands a hit on her she quickly moves away, tucking and rolling or flipping any way she can. She’s small so she can move quicker and uses it to her advantage. She thrashes her bayard around wildly but a bot sneaks up behind her and gives a swift kick to her side, but Pidge recovers quickly and rolls away, hooking her whip around the bots neck and slams it into another one. She turns and electrocutes one that was close by.

In the end Pidge makes it to the second wave of bots before she’s worn out. Which is still pretty impressive.

“End training sequence.” She huffs out.

Pidge walks back up to the observation room with her head down looking disappointed.

“Hey Pidge, you did great.” Shiro says with encouragement.

“Not great enough.” Pidge mumble fixing her glasses.

“Are you kidding me? You were amazing! Whenever one hit you, you were all “Not today!” and you would like flip away then you like lassoed up the other one and threw it like it was nothing…” Lance continued excitingly. Everything he was saying was true. Pidge really was amazing out there, she just needs to work on pacing herself.

At his words Pidge looks away, glasses covering her eyes but he can see she’s smiling.

Keith offers to go next.

Keith is a passionate fighter but also an angry one. 

It’s one of the many things that annoys Lance. When angry, Keith bulldozes over whatever caused it, rushing in half assed and utterly pissed off. It makes him sloppy and vulnerable. Especially in team battles. 

Whenever a bot even comes close to him he cuts it down always staying on his feet. But it’s not wild like Pidge’s hits, it’s skilled. He flips and uses both hands, kicks and dodges with sharp moves. And to make matters even more annoying Lance knows Keith has no formal training. Sure Shiro may have taught him a little stuff here and there but to his core Keith just KNOWS how to fight, it comes to him like breathing. It’s automatic and he’s always ready. But that also means he spends less time thinking.

Lance notices how some bots get closer than others. Landing punches and kicks but Keith just keeps moving. However he’s not waiting and listening he’s just attacking anything that comes near him.

In the end Keith finishes his whole session.

Granted he looks more worn out then Shiro.

“Nice job Keith.” Shiro says as Keith returns to the observation room.

“Yeah Thanks.” Keith says with a small smile on his face.

“Yeah well, I mean it wasn’t that great. Pretty sloppy if you as me.” Lance says rolling his eyes. It’s true though but he says it a little out of spite but Lance doesn’t care.

“No one WAS asking you.” Keith says to him glaring menacingly. He still looks amped up and angry. What a drama queen.

“Alright you two don’t start. That wasn’t nice Lance, your part of a team you need to support your teammates.” Shiro says.

“All I said was that he was sloppy WHICH HE WAS.” Lance yells hands raised.

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you go next and we’ll see how you do.” Keith retorts.

“Fine I will! I was going to go next anyway!”

“Sure.”

Lance walks past Keith, side eyeing him on the way out.

Lance stands in the training room and in the silence notices the buzzing is still there. Shit.

He doesn’t want to be crazy but he also doesn’t want it to be real.

“Ok Lance are you sure you’re ready for this?” Coran asks.

Lance isn’t sure. “Yeah I’m sure! Watch the master at work!”

The lights go off and it’s too familiar.

His bayard comes to life and he feels the heaviness of his gun.

He hears the sounds of hard metal hitting the ground.

Ok he can do this just focus.

He feels something behind him, turns and shoots. The bots head flies off. Yeah! Boom head shot.

He backs up trying to listen. He can hear the other two, metal footsteps clinking around the room. But he can’t pin point where they are. Lance breathes. The buzzing is getting louder again.

No, it’s not real.

He feels something on his left. He fires but there’s nothing there.

Something kicks him from behind and he falls over losing his footing, his gun slipping out of his hands. He quickly starts looking for it but he can’t see. He tries feeling for it, hands waving around wildly, it must have slipped away further then he thought.

He kicks something with his foot on accident and realizes it’s a bot.

He turns around on his back and kicks it over, loud metal slamming onto the ground. 

Everyone’s watching he can’t fail.

He stands up and goes over to the one on the ground and kicks at it chest. Sparks fly. Ok that’s two down one more to go.

He feels cold metal wrap around his throat and he’s in a headlock. Dammit. Its other hand is on his head pulling his hair. Double dammit.

He grabs the bots arm with both his hands to try and pry it off but it’s two strong. It freaking hurts and he can’t think of anything.

The buzzing is pounding in his ears.

He struggles and thrashes but it won’t let up.

He can’t breathe.

He lets go with one hand bending his knees and is able to uppercut it from behind.

The bot falls and so does Lance. He sucks in air as he lies on the ground.

He needs to find his gun.

Lance gets up quickly putting up his fists but he can’t even see what’s in front of him.

The bot punches him right in the nose and it hurts like hell. His eyes water and he’s disoriented. He swings at it but only hits air.

The bot punches him in the gut. He swings again but nothing. The buzzing is all he can hear now.

It’s loud and sounds like static.

The bot punches him hard in the face and he’s down. The only way to end the fight is for Lance to say so. He's not done yet. He can still do this. He tastes blood in his mouth and hopes it’s not a tooth.

He listens for the bot, feeling two sets of movement in the room.

The bot is standing over him.

Lance kicks and his foot just grazes it.

The bot kicks him in the side and it really hurts knocking the wind out of him.

The others are probably thinking about ending the training sequence. No he can still do this. He can.

He begins crawling away. He must look pathetic but he needs some footing to get up.

Tears pick at his eyes and he can’t tell if it’s from the pain or not.

If he gives up now Keith will laugh at him, the rest will look at him with pity and Allura will look at him with disappointment.

He can do this.

He just needs his…

His head bumps into something.

He looks up but can’t see anything.

He lifts his hand and feels for what’s above him. He feels slick steel and a hole in the front.

It’s his gun.

 

His gun is above him.

 

It’s being handed to him.

 

Something is holding his gun.

 

The bots footsteps echo as it walk towards him.

 

Lance stares at his gun.

 

He feels the bot grab the back of his neck.

 

Lance grabs his gun, turns around and fires.

 

The bots head flies off and Lance is shaking.

 

He’s breathing heavily and he can see his own breath.

 

“END TRAINNING SEQENCE!” His voice shouts.

Then he hears it.

 

_Home._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a nice day :D Lance won't.


	4. The Haze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg so sorry this took so long guys. Just started a new job and I've been soooo busy -_- but now I have more free time so i'll try and make the next update much earlier.

Lance has never felt this way in his entire life. This feeling of sinking absolute terror running through him. Even when he was fighting against Galra soldiers or when he was flying a giant mechanical lion throughout the galaxy. 

In those situations he knew what to be afraid of. 

His body shakes uncontrollably, he’s struggling to breath despite his lungs functioning just fine. He feels a trickle of liquid coming from his nose. Oh yeah, he took some bad hits but he can’t even feel them. Probably because of adrenaline. He’s body feels cold but the training room was regular room temperature.

The lights turn on and he stares at nothing.

Nothing. Nothings there.

The buzzing has stopped.

The voice is silent.

But it happened.

It was there.

And it was real.

“Lance!” Someone was shouting his name over the intercom repeatedly, becoming more and more frantic. But Lance doesn’t answer.

He sits and stares blindly. The cold heavy metal of his gun rests in his hands. 

His mind is trying to process anything and everything at once. 

He hears the sound of a sliding door opening.

“Lance!” Hunk yells sounding panicked.

Lance hears Hunk’s loud footsteps as he runs towards him along with multiple others steps clamoring behind.

Hunk crouches down next to Lance, hands trembling nervously, he stares in shock at the blood that must be coming off Lance’s face.

“Holy crap dude! Are you ok? You’re bleeding!” Hunk shrieks, voice loud and trembling. His eyes dart all over Lance’s body looking at all his injures.

Lance doesn’t look at him, he just continues stare in front of him, wide eyed and still in shock.

The others are circled around him asking him if he’s alright but their voices almost seem muffled.

“Hey Lance!?” Pidge shouts. She sounds more scared then Hunk. Probably do to the lack of normally witty remarks not coming from Lance. A “Yeah of course! Are you kidding me? I just had a bad run!” maybe.

She moves to his side, grabbing his shoulder and shakes him roughly.

It snaps Lance out of his trance but it also welcomes the storm of fear and panic that has been building up in his gut.

“Maybe the training level was too high…” He hears Shiro say worryingly. 

“See! I told you guys to end the training sequence when that one bot clocked him.” Hunk bristles.

He moves one hand to Lance’s upper back, like he’s trying to prevent his friend from falling over.

“Hey Lance…are you ok?” Pidge asks, her hand still rests on his shoulder. It’s comforting to have his friends there to ground him, bring him back to reality, but it still doesn’t stop the whiplash of emotion steering inside.

“I…there was…” He stutters out. It’s like his brain is moving too fast for his mouth to keep up.

Shiro moves in front of Lance, crouching so their at eye level. He places his human hand on Lance’s shoulder and gives him a gentle squeeze.

“C’mon Lance we need to take you to the healing pod. That kick looked like it could have fractured a rib.” Shiro moves gently, grabbing Lance’s arm to help pull him up.

No, somethings very wrong and it’s beyond physical.

“no…..no….NO!” Lance violently snatches his arm away from Shiro, Nearly knocking the black paladin over. 

He stands up but too quickly because he’s soon hit with the disorienting feeling of nausea. He’s face must have shown this because Shiro moves from his own confusion to trying and grab Lance again, but Lance places his hands on his chest and shoves him away.

“Hey! What the hell’s your problem!?” He hears Keith shout at him. 

But he doesn’t turn to look.

He looks at his gun.

It looks normal, like always.

Lance watches the blue glow of it shifting back into bayard form.

“Lance?!” Allura says his name like a mom that caught her kid fighting on the playground. She wants answers.

“Did you guys see that?” Lance whispers.

“See what?” Hunk asked.

What does he mean what?

Lance looks up at them. Everyone’s eyes are on him, looking concerned and confused.

“Did you guys see that!?” Panic was seeping into his voice.

“See what!?” Keith’s pitch grew higher, more irritated at the lack of information Lance was giving.

The churning panic in Lance’s gut was getting worse.

“MY GUN!” Lance’s shouts. Like they would get it. Why wouldn’t they get it?

“Yeah. You dropped it during the fight. What about it?” Keith says, like it was the simplest thing in the fucking world. 

“NO…MY GUN…I…I…I needed to get it…then…then it was there…it was just flouting in the air…something…something was…”

His eyes dart around. Looking at his teammates. Looking for understanding in his rambling.

But all he gets are confused stares.

“Lance… what are you talking about?” Pidge chimes in amongst the silence. Her voice sounding more worried then confused.

“What!? My gun! When the bot was about to get me! I couldn’t find it. It was too dark…then…then…it was just levitating over my head…like…like….” Lance couldn’t form words. He was still trembling and his brain was still moving too fast. Trying to find reason.

Everyone’s eyes quint in absolute confusion.

They all glance at one other only to look back at Lance.

“Lance…you picked up your gun…”

Allura’s words sound distant, foreign.

“What?”

“When that bot was about to get you. When you were on the floor. You found your gun and shot it, then you ended the sequence.” Hunk explains.

Lance stares at him, eyes wide and unfocused.

No. He didn’t pick it up. Something was holding it out to him.

No.

No.No.No.No

Lance looks at the ground.

“What?”

“Lance I think you’re just disoriented. Come on let’s get you to the healing pod.” Shiro says. He walks up to Lane slowly now more cautious of get shoved again.

“Guys no…I saw it. My gun was just floating there…” Lance whispers out.

Shiro wraps Lance’s arm over his shoulder. “Don’t worry Lance everything’s going to be okay.”

“Hmm do you think perhaps he has some sort of brain damage?” Coran offers worryingly. 

“Can humans develop such a thing from the injuries he sustained?” Allura asks look at the paladins.

“No! At least…I don’t think so.” Pidge turns to look at Lance getting escorted away by Shiro. 

They think he’s crazy.

Is he crazy?

No it was real.

They don’t understand.

“There’s a voice in my head.”

Shiro stops walking.

The others all turn to look at Lance

Lance sucks in a nervous breath.

“There’s a voice in my head and it’s been talking to me ever since we left the Zid planet. I don’t know what it is or what it wants but it’s there. It’s in my head and I think it’s making me hallucinate.”

His back is to the others so he can’t see their expressions but he can see Shiro’s.

“Lance…are you serious?”

Lance nods 

Shiro turns to look at Allura.

The princess looks back at him.

“Get him to the healing pod we can run scans while he’s inside.”

A wash of relief takes over Lance. Like an enormous weight is being lifted.

Maybe now he can finally get some answers.

____________

Lance opens his eyes slowly. Waking up from cryo always feels weird. And yeah Lance acknowledges that out of all of them he’s been to the pod the most, but it’s still weird every time. He wakes up groggy and his body is all tingly. He steps out and nearly slips on his own feet.

“Woah easy buddy.” Hunk says as he catches Lance.

Why the hell do the healing pods face up anyway? Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to be laying down, so you know, the person getting out wouldn’t be in danger of falling flat on their face. 

Altean technology is weird.

“Ugh, what time is it?”

“Uh half past space o’clock? Man I don’t know space time is weird… get it… space time.” Hunk jokes still holding Lance, now with a big grin.

“Nice one dude. But not helpful.” Lance smiled back.

“Well you haven’t been out that long 4 hours at most.”

Lance looks over and spots Allura and Coran looking at a monitor nearby.

“So what’s the diagnosis? Do I have space parasites?” Lance meant for it to sound more comedic but it came of as nervous. The thought made Lance’s skin crawl. He remembers seeing parasite documentaries. But he knew they could be removed and certainly space parasites (If they existed) could be removed as well. “You guys think you can get whatever’s in out of me?”

Both Coran and Allura turned to him. They both have concerned looks on their faces. Which only made Lance more nervous. Allura glances over at Coran like they don’t know which one should speak.

Allura does.

“Lance…We did brain scans the whole time you were in the pod and…well…”

“And what”

“Lance we didn’t find anything wrong.” Coran finishes.

“What!?”

“Lance everything shows up normal. Your brain waves. No foreign entities, disruption…”

“No sign of brain damage either.” Coran chimed in.

“But…but…”

“Lance as far as the technology in the castle is concerned you’re perfectly heathy.” The look on Allura’s face betrays what she’s saying. She looks confused. Big surprise because so is Lance.

Lance frowns.

“No…wait no what about the voices? I’m not lying I heard it!” Lance stutters out. Hunks grip on his waist becomes tighter as Lance gets more upset.

“Lance perhaps the…voices and your hallucinations are two of the same, being caused by something else.” Coran’s trying to help. Lance can tell but even he doesn’t believe Lance now.

“How have you been sleeping?” Allura asks.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Lack of sleep can effect humans quite badly if we’ve learned anything from Shiro. To the point where it can make you see things or in this case hear things.” Coran said.

“No...I…”

“Have you been sleeping well?”

“Well no…but that’s not the point!” Lance grits his teeth. This whole situation was pissing him off.

“Maybe…”

“NO!” Lance yelled so loudly it startled Hunk causing Lance to almost slip out of his grip.

“No ok look, this whole thing started after that pressure I felt inside Blue. It has something to do with that!”

“Lance we’re not even sure what you’re talking about was real…”

“It was real for me!” Lance snatches himself away from Hunk, standing on his own. They need to understand or at least try.

“Lance the only thing that could have been IF it did happen was a seismic energy serge. And even if it were that, it would have affected everything. The castle the lions any and all electricity.” Allura explains.

“What? What’s a seismic energy serge?”

“Energy serge’s are random bursts of energy that happen in open space and no one knows why they happen or where they come from. Serge’s can be so strong they can shut down all technology in one area.” Coran helpfully explains.

“However what your explaining Lance it’s nothing like that…” Allura says. She looks Lance in the eyes and he’s never been more frustrated in his entire life.

Is he just hallucinating?

But from what?

“Lance the only thing we can suggest is that you start getting more sleep. If these delusions continue…we’ll… figure something out. But for now just focus on getting a long enough rest.” Allura says with a small smile.

They don’t believe him and have no idea what to do.

A large hand rests on his shoulder.

“Hey buddy its ok. I’m sure your fine, plus look on the bright side! You get to nap all day!” Hunk says, and Lance is so grateful for him. It doesn’t help to fully calm him down but it’s something.

“Yeah…”

\----------------

Lance walks to his room alone. He denied Hunks offer of walking him there.   
His eyes bore into the floor beneath his feet. He just doesn’t know how to feel now…

No that’s not true he’s still plenty scared but now it’s like an ugly mixture of scared and horrifically confused. Seriously what the fuck is going on? Is he really going crazy? He knows what he saw. What he felt…

Why is nothing showing up on the brain scans or Blue’s sensors.

He knows somethings wrong he can feel it. And hear it…

As Lance continues his thoughtful walk down the hall he stops at the sound of noise.

He looks over at where he stopped and oh…

The training room.

He peaks in through the open door and spots Keith and Shiro. Of Couse they were sparing because what else do they do?

Their like workaholics when it comes to training.

He thinks Keith might actually sleep there at night.

It did kind of bother him that they hadn’t been there when he came out of the healing pod. Neither did Pidge…where ever she was. They could have at least checked to see if he was ok…

He continues to stare, completely unnoticed by the other two paladins trying to land hits on each other. They both move so alarmingly fast Lance has a hard time keeping up with their movements.

Just a few hours ago Lance was in there. Getting his ass handed to him.

He couldn’t even last one sequence.

And as proven Hunk and Shiro are much stronger then him. Pidge and Keith are faster and Allura and Coran wiser. He thought being in a team would make him feel more equal but it only made him see how different he was from everyone else.

_Not good enough ._

His teammates…they all have their own individual talents Shiro’s natural leadership abilities, Keith’s naturally great at fighting and basically everything else. Hunk’s engineering and Pidge’s tech savviness and then there’s him.

What does he honestly do?

If he wasn’t able to fly one of the lions what could he offer?

Sure he’s a good shot but as proven by the training sesh he was helpless without his gun.

He looks over at Keith as he charges towards Shiro, bayard in hand. Shiro side steps him easily and goes for a counter attack but Keith jumps out of the way. Something in Lance’s stomach churns. Like a warning. His senses become hyper sensitive and suddenly he can smell them.

No not just smell them…he can feel them. The heat and sweat wafting off their skin and oh…yeah that’s fucking disgusting. He starting to become dizzy as they continue.

The stranger thing is that Lance notices that Keith smells different then Shiro. Not his smell…like his…his being is radiated a different frequency. Different from Shiro, Hunk, Pidge and himself. 

What the hell is happening?

It becomes too much and Lance has to cover his mouth and nose with his hands before he falls over and ok…their stink is actually making him feel sick.

He bolts, running to the nearest place that has fresh air which is luckily his room. He rushes in and closes the door. Inside Lance inhales and exhales loudly. He literally couldn’t breathe in the same room as them. Every instinct in his body was telling him to get the fuck out, especially his nose.

His back hits the wall and he slides down slowly into a sitting position.

He continues to breath and he wants to think too but he’s too tired, plus the buzzing is back. His mind feels cloudy with the heaviness of sleep but he just woke up from the healing pod.

Why me?

Why is this happening to me?

The buzzing increases but it doesn’t hurt.

Lance gets up and stumbles over to his bed.

The buzzing is so loud now it sounds like a distant loud hum.

Why?

What does the voice want from him ?

_Home._

Why home?

_Rest._

What?

_Rest._

And for once Lance listens and closes his eyes.

______________

Lance’s dream is…bizarre. More bizarre then most of his dreams. Mostly because he’s aware he’s dreaming and it not so much sight as it is noise. Like multiple people talking around him and the sound of wind. 

He sees nothing but blackness. He tries to move he really does but he’s stuck, just kind of drifting. He’s cold. He wants warmth but its freezing. He decides this is a nightmare. Drifting in blackness with nothing in sight. Yeah that sounds like a nightmare.

Then suddenly Dream Lance can see something in the distance. A green marble? A green marble with patches of bright pink all over it. Dream Lance looks at it as his body flouts. He feels emotions from it for some reason.

Him and his little brother use to play with marbles.

He clings on to that to pull him out of this.

And suddenly his nightmare turns into a dream.

_______________

When Lance wakes up he feels more rested then he’s felt in the past two days. He even closes his eyes again just to bask in the feeling. Just lets his body feel looser then it’s been in a while.

Then he hears the loud beep of the intercom.

“All paladins, report to the deck eminently!”

“Aw come on…” he groans. Normally he loves the sound of Allura’s beautiful voice but in this moment he really wishes she would shut her quiznak…

_____________

They all report to the front of the ship, armor on and ready to go.

“What is it Allura? Are we under attack?” Shiro asks hurriedly.

“No, I have good news actually. We just received a distress signal.” Allura says turning to them and she looks…strangley…excited.

“Um is that really good news?” Pidge questions with a quaked eyebrow.

“Normally no, however this one is!” And Allura looks so excited it looks like there are actual stars in her eyes.

“Yes! The planet where the signal came from is called Uraba and its race the Urabi were close allies of Altea!” Coran informs them, sounding just as if not more excited than Allura.

“I have met them several times during Altea’s harvest festivals and they are very kind and noble people. My father promised to he’d let me go with him on his next travel here…” Allura’s voice drops into a whisper but her smile doesn’t leave her face. “I guess I’m finally here…” She gives her head a small shake and changers her tone.

“Come all of you. You can see it from here!”

The other’s walk closer to the giant glass of the castle ship and look down in the direction Allura pointed, and sure enough the planet’s right there.

And Lance holds his breath.

It’s a green planet. With bright pink patches. Not a marble. A planet.

He dreamt about a planet he’d never seen before?

“So what’s the planet like?” Pidge asks still looking out the glass.

“Uraba is a lush forest planet sustaining itself with its many exotic plants and animals.” Coran answers. “Hm… I wonder what the Galra could want from this place…”

Sooo plants mean the air might be breathable… maybe? Pidge deduces like she’s asking herself.

“Exotic plants and animals? You think they have some good food down there?” Hunk asks nearly drooling at the thought of eating something other than food goo.

“Um probably not best to go asking to eat one of the native’s animals Hunk.” Shiro says offering a sympathetic smile at Hunks new frown of disappointment. 

“So when do we land?” Keith asks and damn Lance honestly forgets the guy exists sometimes just from his lack of communication.

“Not long. Once we liberate it a powerful alliance will be built again!” Allura says typing away at the holo screen.

Lance turns and looks back down.

Then he tries something crazy.

Home? He asks in his head.

_No._

The voice replies much to Lance’s shock.

_Lies._

Lance gulps and his heart sinks down to his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Adventures on Uraba and a little Keith interaction ;)


	5. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THIS WORK IS NOT BEING ABANDONED !!!

So bad news first, My computer is officially dead. I've tried everything and it's just gone so yeah need a new one. Right now I can't afford it so I'll most likely be able to get one somewhere in December.

Good news though the new chapter is almost complete except for the last bit. Right now im trying to find a way to use a usb so I can get it to another computer though.

Anyway sorry for the long wait you guys this has been a really rough year so far but I'm getting better and staying hopeful.

I really like this story and want to continue as soon as I can. And as always I love everyone's comments and I'm so happy you all like it.

Thank you for your patience and have a beautiful day :D


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